The beginning of the book is about different types of yarn and weaving tools. That is followed by warping a frame loom for the project. The instructions are ok and there are great color photographs of the process. Although the photos are helpful, I would have liked there to be some line drawings of the techniques. I was confused by a couple of the techniques and the drawings would have helped me.

The size of the project is four and half inches wide by about eight inches long. The directions said to warp eighteen ends over the four and half inches. I fit the eighteen ends into the four and half inches trying to space out the warp ends evenly.

I used the same cotton yarn for the warp that I used for the table runner in Project One. I did not want to spend a lot of money so I used some acrylic yarn from my stash for the weft. I was to find out that acrylic is not the easiest or best to work with for tapestry because it is very stretchy. But, the yarn served its purpose in this sampler.

Tapestry is created using discontinuous weft. More than one color may be in one pass of the weft. The easiest way to work is to have the weft in butterflies or on tapestry bobbins because loose yarn will tangle and is unruly to pass through the warps. Shuttle sticks are better for weft that runs the entire width of the piece. Butterflies or bobbins are good for working on tapestries. The book shows how to create a butterfly. Also, Craftleftovers.com has a good description of making a butterfly. Tapestry bobbins come in a variety of sizes. I did not have bobbins during creation of this tapestry so I used butterflies.

The blue/gray color is the hem. The hem is made as a solid base for the rest of the weaving. The hem is plain weave. The weft is passed across the full width of the piece. The hem can show when the piece is done or can be folded under. The orange is a row of soumak knots. It is used throughout to separate the different sections of the sampler. This first row of soumak will also cover the exposed warp if the hem is folded under. Gleason’s Fine Woolies Ranch has a webpage Soumak Weaving for the Beginner that has information on Soumak Knots.

So, I’ve come to the end of this post. Next, my experience with horizontal stripes and spots. Any questions and comments are welcome.

Warp Ends – one entire warp thread not just the end. On a continuous warp it is one complete revolution around the loom.

e.p.i. – ends per inch, the number of warp threads or wraps in an inch of the loom.

Sett – the number of e.p.i. per inch used for the project.

Project one was a table runner.

I used a plain weave and cotton yarn. I did not understand the information about the spacing of the warp ends, lesson not yet learned.

I did not get that the warp ends needed to be spaced far enough apart for the weft to fit. As you can see, the warps are practically on top of each other. Later I will show you what kind of havoc this brings down on the project. The warp ends are in stripes so that the weave will create a checkerboard effect. The weft will be completed with the same striping effect.

Plain weave is where the weft goes over and under alternate warp ends. I think the set I used was 10 e.p.i. I say think because I can’t remember. That is a good reason to write down all the information about a project. Not long after you finish project it kind of leaks out of the brain.lesson not yet learned.

Continuous warping was very difficult for me. Warping on my loom requires one to wrap the yarn in a particular formation. I won’t explain it just because all looms are different. I wrapped it with the tension bar half way up its space like the directions for the loom said. In tapestry, tension is so very important! lesson not yet learn. Later on in the project you will see how the wrong tension in the warp will create problems. Tension is important with all weaving, but in tapestry it needs to be very tight.

That is about all on my warp for now. Next I will explain how I set up the heddles, and what they are!

Warp: the yarn attached to the loom and held under tension during the weaving.

Weft: the thread that is woven side to side, over and under the warp.

As usual, I jump into things head first. I bought a few books off Amazon, ordered a loom and its accompaniments, and some yarn. I really should learn to slow down and do more investigating before I start collecting. The first book that I used was Learning to Weaveby Deborah Chandler,published by Interweave Publishing.It is a good book to get if you plan on regular weaving and using a table or floor loom. It talks about the different types of looms and the different types of weaves. The weaving process is explained clearly as well as the different types of yarn characteristics. The drafting of designs is also explained. I like the book and would recommend it because it does contain a wealth of information. It gives a good basic foundation. I used it for my first project, a table runner, but haven’t really used it since because I am more interested in tapestry weaving which is a little different from standard fabric weaving.

I purchased a Schacht Tapestry Loom. It is a continuous warp with tension loom. The warp is wrapped around the loom in one piece. It has four heddle bars which allows for good flexibility in creating sheds. This is good for standard fabric weaving. I used them for the first project but, in the tapestry work I have done I since, I have not used them. I personally found the heddle making a little difficult. Because it is a continuous warp you have to space the warp ends yourself which can be difficult especially while learning. The loom is good and sturdy and reasonably priced as looms go. Unless you are doing tapestry, I would recommend a small table loom to start with something like the Schacht Cricket Loom. I still may someday get one myself. Mirrix looms seem to be good for tapestry work, although the cost is a little higher. I suggest that you do a good amount of research before investing in any loom.

I purchased some cotton yarn for the warping for my project and used the same yarn for the weft. Still trying to learn about yarn and its different characteristics. Probably should have invested more time in learning that aspect to start with. As you can tell by the shortness of this paragraph I still have a long way to go to understanding the different threads and yarns.

Next Entry I will start showing pictures and explaining what I have done, both bad and good. See you then!